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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

OPTIMISM IS GOLDEN, BUT 2014 IS ABOUT BEING A REALIST

I have been known to be an optimist when it comes to most things, including sports. I believe in my teams, even when things look grim. Yet, I would be lying if I was feeling optimistic when it comes to the 2014 Yankees and the next six or so weeks ahead of them. Instead, I take the middle ground and say, when it comes to the remaining days of the 2014 season, I am a realist first.

I was more than disappointed with the Yankee team performance in Baltimore last week. In fact, I almost turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the shenanigans I saw in highlight videos. I kind of said to myself, "this isn't my Yankees." But, I digress when I say, that was the optimist in me. I turned that corner after the Baltimore series and I'm on the honest path of realism. And why wouldn't I be? It is a fair assessment to say that realism is far more attainable than optimism these days. The Yankees are what they are this season- mediocre. It pains me to say it but it is true. We have a bunch of ruddy guys pieced together like a tourniquet, keeping the flood gates from opening up, revealing what is really within- a wound so deep that it will take some time to heal.

Let's face it we will experience a real void when the Captain leaves his pinstripes behind for greener pastures outside of the baseball diamond. And we are still feeling the void of Robinson Cano who left for Seattle for his greener pastures. CC Sabathia is hurt and I am not sure he will be back next season, leaving yet another void. Guys like Brian McCann and even Jacoby Ellsbury haven't lived up to their expectations, deepening our wound this season. Pitching continues to plague us severely. I don't know what the antidote for that will be. It is certainly not Larry Rothchild. I fear that Masahiro Tanaka and even David Phelps have been hurt by Rothchild sticking around too long.

Before I turn realism to pessimism, I should probably end with the fact that the Yankees moved up to second place behind Baltimore in the AL East by winning this weekend's series against the Tampa Bay Rays and they have a couple of fairly easy series ahead of them including this series with Houston and the next with the Chicago White Sox. Could we score a wild card win? Anything is possible. But frankly, I hope the Yankees just figure themselves out, both on the field and off. I think we have some management moves to make before we make one more player move. I think our farm system needs some nurturing and I am hopeful that if the Yankees make the right moves in the off season, we could put a winning team on the field this spring. I am not writing this season off, I am just being realistic. And realists eat optimists for lunch!